So just for the record, I will admit that I am wrong about the existence of black-backed jackal dog hybrids, if someone can provide me a link to a study or record of a hybrid that has some form of DNA evidence– either a mitochondrial DNA or a y chromosome analysis will suffice. I will also accept any nuclear DNA studies of African dogs that find evidence of crossing with either of these jackals.

If someone can find the same evidence for a side-striped jackal and dog hybrid, I will also admit that the African-only jackals can hybridize with dogs.

Side striped jackal

I’ve heard it claimed that these two jackals will cross with dogs or wolves or some other variant of Canis lupus, but I’ve never read of record of them breeding in any nineteenth century menagerie.

Hybrid in the genus Canis have occurred between all things that are currently part of Canis lupus, including the red wolf (whatever it is), Ethiopian wolves (which are not technically jackals), golden jackals, and the coyote. Verified hybrids have been found with all of these animals.

As far as I know and as far as I’ve looked, the two Africa-only jackals have not hybridized with any of these animals.

And they are more genetically distant from domestic dogs than dholes and African wild dogs are– and we all know that neither of those can hybridize with domestic dogs.

Indian pariah dogs have been seen running with dhole packs, but no one has ever reported a dhole-dog.

I guess I’ve made a zoological challenge.

I’d like to see real evidence of a hybrid between a dog and one of these jackals.

All I have received in the past have been photographs and someone saying these are jackal-dogs.

However, as we know, one can easily find dogs with virtually any phenotype in any randomly breeding population.

It does not mean that these dogs have jackal in them. German shepherds are more closely related to mastiffs than they are to wolves, but it is still widely claimed that they are derived from wolf hybrids.

I stand by what I say about these two jackals interbreeding with dogs.

But if someone can provide me some kind of DNA proof that a hybrid exists between a dog and either of these two jackals, then I will accept the correction.

I don’t think we have a very good grasp on how unique the black-backed jackal actually is.

It superficially looks like a small coyote or golden jackal with a grizzled blanket on its back.

It’s not.

It’s very unique.

I have called them the closest thing to naturally occurring Jack Russell Terriers, because they are very scrappy with each other. The Southern African or Cape black-backed jackals are typically just a little bit bigger than a terrier.

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BTW, in a future post, I will make the case that the two subpopulations of black-backed jackal might be separate species.

I’m not going to do that here.

I don’t know if anyone has looked into this possibility from a genetic standpoint, but in terms of phenotype and behavior, the East African and Cape subspecies are quite different from one another– and probably have been separated for a long time.